Of Ash and Embers (The Mist King, #2)

by Jenna Wolfhart

“As long as dreams remain, so do the stars.”

My reckless anger and distrust had landed me here, along with everyone I loved.

I’d acted rashly. Awful things had happened because I could not control my anger, because I let everything that had ever happened to me drive me forward with no thought to the consequences.

As I approached, my boots crunching fallen twigs, she closed her eyes, like she couldn’t stand the thought of seeing me. A dagger of pain sliced my heart. Why did this have to be so fucking complicated?

She looked so innocent sitting there, with her legs tucked up to her chest, but I knew what she was capable of.

“I don’t trust you, either,” she said with a frown. “I don’t trust anyone.”

Her bottomless brown eyes seemed to pierce right through me. Dammit.

I took every single inch of her in, and I reveled in her.

Her neck bobbed as she swallowed, and my eyes followed the path of the tear that traced a line down her flushed cheek. Heart aching, I stayed my ground, knowing that if I made a move toward her, she’d only push me away.

Her own pain and guilt reflected right back onto me, and I wanted to erase it all. I wished she did not have to hurt the way I did.

Dreams were only dreams, but the emotions I felt in them were sometimes more true than reality itself.

But I had to find a way. Because I would not let King Oberon bind her to him. If I had to rip that entire chasm apart to get to her, I would.

“I will rip out his heart if he touches her.”

Tessa’s face flashed in my mind, and the way she’d looked at me after seeing my memories—the ones that had revealed the worst moments of my life. There had been no disgust there, but there’d also been no pity. Just understanding. And I could not let that monster control her for the rest of her life.

“I have to go to her.”

“I’m a bad fucking king,” I muttered to myself. “What’s worse is, I don’t know what I would have done if you’d said no. I think I would have used my power against them regardless. I can’t reach Tessa. She could be dead. Or Oberon could be doing something terrible to her. I can’t wait any longer, Toryn. I have to do something. She needs me.”

“I’m staying right here, Kal. You’re going to need me when that power leaves your body.” Toryn stepped just behind me and leaned against the wall. “You don’t have to be alone in this, even though you think you should be. You don’t have to be alone in anything ever again.”

Breathing in, I curled my fists and let my eager power build up inside of me, a windstorm of destruction racing through my veins. Tessa’s face flashed in my mind, her brown eyes staring into my soul, unblinking. My breath rattled. For her, I could do this. For her, I would do anything.

“Tessa!” His voice ripped through the village, so loud and echoing that I could not tell where it came from, but he was near. There was so much anguish in it, so much rage.

“I thought you were dead,” he ground out, shuddering. “We went to the castle. The dungeons were empty. There was blood on the floor and fire everywhere. I thought you were dead.” His voice cracked on the last word. Something in my heart cracked right along with it.

“Oh, love,” he said in his raspy, toe-curling voice.

“Good,” he said in a growl as his lips skimmed my neck. “I hope he does. And he will see that his claim on you means nothing. You are not his, and you never will be. Fuck his dragon mark.”

“You are no one’s bride,” Kalen said fiercely. “Unless you want to be.”

No one survived death. Every beautiful thing in the world came to an end.

But a broken heart can lead a desperate man to do terrible things.

I would carry Tessa to the moon and back, if I must.

What mattered most was in my arms.

“Books are the boards beneath our feet. Without them, we risk wading in mud.”

I took a step toward him. “I’m sorry I took it, but now you can have it back.” “I don’t want it, love. It’s yours. Keep it with you always.”

“You don’t have to be afraid of touching me, love,” he murmured, his chest rumbling against mine.

“Hello, love,” he said to me, and just those two words on his lips sent another bolt of fiery need through my core. “Hello, Kalen.”

“I love the way my name sounds on your tongue.” His eyes dipped to my lips, as if he were thinking about more than just his name in my mouth. Truth be told, so was I. “But it’s your moans I’m most desperate to hear.”

“And if you moan my name, all the better.” Eyes darkening, he reached behind me and lifted my braid over my shoulder and his fingers skimmed its twined strands. I tracked his every move, scarcely daring to breathe. When he reached the end, he curled his hand into a fist and gave the braid a little tug, drawing my lips to his.

He pulled back, his thumb still pressed against my cheek. “You have consumed me. Everything about you drives me mad, and yet I would not change a thing. I want to give you the greatest pleasure you will ever know, fill you with so much rapture that you forget your own name.”

I started to reach out for him, but he dropped to his knees. “I’m not religious, love, but I am going to worship your body, starting with the altar of your thighs.”

“I’ve got you,” he murmured, his mouth suddenly at my ear. “I won’t let you fall.”

“As long as dreams remain, so do the stars,” I murmured.

“When I look into your eyes, I see the truth of who you are. I understand why you did what you did, and I cannot hate you for it. We’re not that different, you and I. You would rip apart the world to save the ones you love. So would I.”

“You contain multitudes, and every new discovery has me utterly destroyed.”

“Those who play with fire shouldn’t be surprised when they get burned.”

“Oh, I am not shy,” he said in a low murmur as he tightened his grip on my waist, “but I can’t stand the thought of any other man in this room seeing the beauty of your curves.”

A desperate man was a dangerous man.

“You could do anything to me, and I’d like it, love.”

The cost of being king. So many envied the power of absolute authority. But with that power came a responsibility so great that it became stifling at times. Make a mistake—one wrong move—and the aftermath could be cataclysmic, particularly now.

“You’re fucking breathtaking, love.”